Maternal and neonatal hair mercury concentrations—the effect of dental amalgam

Abstract

We set out to evaluate the mercury burden in relation to the placement of dental amalgam tooth restorations by using maternal and fetal hair analysis. This was a cross-sectional study involving women who had never had dental amalgam restorations placed, women who had amalgam restorations placed before pregnancy and women who had restorations placed during pregnancy. Fifty-three maternal and fetal hair samples were collected in a standardised manner in the first few days following delivery. When compared with women without restorations there was a significant increase in the maternal hair mercury concentration in women who had dental amalgam placed outside the index pregnancy and also in women who had dental amalgam placed during the index pregnancy. The fetal hair mercury concentration was significantly higher in babies when mothers had been exposed to dental amalgam either before pregnancy or during pregnancy compared with unexposed babies. There was no difference in the maternal or fetal hair mercury levels in the patients who had dental amalgam placed before or during pregnancy.